Practical Ethics

[Thomas Disch's LJ (RSS Feed)]

Long long ago I took a night course at the U of Minn that had a textbook with the title Practical Logic. It seems to me that logic is always just plain logical or not. But ethics is something else. A textbook called Practical Ethics is in fact suitable for my (perhaps parodic) discussions of Justice in the case of Client No. 9. The underlying assumption being Justice is a system for keeping the rich and powerful forever guiltless while blaming lesser beings (the daughters of Eve, the Media)for any appearance of mischief. There are actually people out there whinging and whining for Client No. 9, whose sins, after all, are less than Clinton's and what about his poor wife and the lifelong shame of those three girls, etc.? So a first principle of Practical Ethics is selective forgiveness: if it's one of our bastards show a little tenderness why don't ya. Second: look the other way. There are more important matters than whether the Gov gets a little nooky. He's still got a whole agenda to accomplish. Third, gather evidence in advance of any scandal so that you, personally, may reap some benefit. I'm sure KIrsten and her fellow sex workers have covered that angle. For all the rest of us, remember, gossip shows the gossiper to be a low, ill-bred sort not liable to obtain a position of trust and keep it.

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